Sakuno Alone
by DuelyPostNoted
Summary: After she loses touch with her Senpais Sakuno is bored and tries harder in Tennis. The Ex-Regulars are concerned about her rushed and busy lifestyle. And why is she avoiding Seigaku?
1. Chapter 1

**I do not own Prince of Tennis. Otherwise I'd bring Sakuno in more often**

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**ponk!**

**ponk!**

**Sakuno returned the ball to the same spot on the wall for the, what was it 80th time? She'd lost count a while ago anyways. Today was a Saturday, The Ex-Regulars were at home and she was at school. If the Ex-Regulars knew about this they might have her stop. She heard a small dinging noise and knew that her timer was up. She caught the ball and put it down along with her racquet. She started doing laps around the courts.**

**1 hour later...**

**She had finally finished her laps that she self-assigned. Sakuno didn't even know why she was doing this. But after everyone but Momo, Kaidoh and Echizen graduated she felt the need to be more serious about tennis. At the moment it was 4 am, she had started at 8 pm last night and worked through the night. At that moment she had almost worked herself for 6 hours straight. Her right shoulder burned and her hand felt sore too. A wave of fatigue and energy loss swept over her and she swayed on the spot. She collapsed onto the ground but did not fall unconscious. However her conscious was slipping. She then heard the tap ta tap of someone running. I had rained the previous night and there was mud on Sakuno's face. But she couldn't care less. **

**A small hiss was heard above her as the runner stopped and saw her. "Hey you big peach?! What would you do if you found a stranger in the Tennis courts, collapsed from exhaustion? Oh, You'll come and help me? Thanks." She could feel Kaidoh leaning over her trying to figure out how she had become like this. In the matter of minutes Momoshiro was there too. Kaidoh had already called an ambulance as Momo had suggested so they sought to move Sakuno closer to the road. when Momo came back to look for her stuff the saw the messed up ball that had turned a irregular shape and two messed up racquets. Who ever they were had been working exceptionally hard. When he rose to walk away the saw a tennis ball sized dent in the concrete wall. How long had that girl been here?! He heard the ambulance however and ran to meet Kaidoh. They carried Sakuno onto the stretcher and explained the situation to the paramedics. They also got in the ambulance so they could go to the hospital and figure out who she was.**

**3 hours later…**

**The two frenemies sat in the waiting room. Two hours ago they were ordered to stay there while the team come to see the poor girl, who was still unnamed and unconscious. At that moment the team all came in minus Tezuka and Ryoma (Who had moved back to New York). They walked to the girl's room and entered in. The girl was 15 at most around their age. Her hair and face were still splattered with mud and she was wrapped in bandage on her hand shoulder and left leg. Oishi, Eiji, Fuji and Inui were surprised. How hard had this girl worked herself? The girl's eyes popped open causing Eiji and Oishi who were leaning over her to jump back. The teen gave out a gasp in pain and looked fearfully at them all. She then started to get up and head towards the door. Kawamura, Oishi and Fuji quickly stopped her and put her back in the bed. "How long where you playing tennis?" She glanced up at them and said, "Me answering that is a bad idea. You'd freak out." They continued asking and finally she relented, "Six to seven hours? I lost count." They freaked out indeed. This teenage girl started training herself at 8 pm! And it had rained last night! She suddenly bolted past them and grabbed her bag. Oishi grabbed her and only barely managed to stop her. He let go of her in shock when she turned around and said quietly yet clearly to him, "You never cared that much before Oishi-senpai, Eiji-senpai, Momoshiro-senpai, Kawamura-senpai, Kaidoh-senpai, Inui-senpai, and Tezuka-senpai. Echizen-san never really cared at all, but you used to make an effort." With that she ran away leaving the Ex-Regulars to wonder who was she .**

**Monday Next week, Seigaku High school.**

**"Fuji-kun!" A short girl with minty green hair in a bob cut named Mei Kanonkan ran up to the group who were leaving school. (Minus Tezuka, Kaidoh and Echizen) She knew Fuji from photography club, but not the others. "Remember how I'm neighbors with your old coach? Well her granddaughter Sunako's Birthday is today! I was wondering if you knew her." Fuji nodded to the girl and said "Hai, Mei-chan. Is there going to be a party or something? It would be interesting to see her again. We haven't seen her in…" The older boy trailed off realizing something. Ever since the girl had gotten into her second year, most of the team had graduated. Momo and Kaidoh stopped training her daily, as they had to concentrate on the team. Echizen had moved to America the summer after his first year, and they had lost contact with the girl they considered their little sister. "Years…" Eiji finished guiltily. "Apparently her best friend used to share a flat with her but moved in with her boyfriend. She was planning on spending the day at home, practicing Tennis. Big surprise there. "She rolled her eyes at the end, before smiling at the group. "Here's her address! Maybe her senpai can convince her to take a day off for once." She shoved a slip of paper into Eiji's hands and dashed off. They immediately walked over to the place indicated. It was a small one story house with a short walkway. Surprisingly there were no flowers or decorations. Not even a welcome mat. They walked up to the door and rang the bell. No one answered. **

**They suddenly picked up the sound of a Ponk! Ponk! Ponk! they walked around to the back and see a makeshift Tennis Court… but no Sakuno. The sounds are louder now and Oishi knocked on the small wooden gate. The noise stops immediately and a door is heard opening and closing. Soon the door is heard again and a girl appears around the corner. The girl was tall and slender with an curvy athletic build. She was wearing light green sports shorty shorts with black leggings underneath that went to her knees and had a plain brown t-shirt on. Over that she had a Light blue Hoodie-Jacket with half sleeves. She was wearing tennis shoes so muddy you couldn't tell the original color along with that she had grip tape along her arms. She had her dark red-brown hair pulled into a messy bun and was almost as tall as them, her brown eyes filled with shock at seeing her senpais that she once had seen as brothers. They saw how surprised she was at the fact they had come and felt even worse. **

**"Shitsurei shimasu…" she muttered as she let them into the garden. Then making their way to the house they looked around. Other than the tennis court, It had nothing particularly special. No flowers, only grass and a single tree. When the went inside the same stood true. The place looked untouched. It worried the Ex-Regulars a bit. Was she never here? They sat down in the unnaturally tidy living room as she went into the kitchen. When she came back she only had some tea.**

** "Gomen. It was all I had. So what do you want?" They were surprised at her change. She thought they wanted something and it seemed forgot her own birthday! "We just were feeling guilty for accidentally ignoring and falling out of touch with you. We wanted to wish you a happy birthday." She rolled her eyes and said, "Oh yeah. That." She then shook her head slightly taking the boys aback. Why was she so… Gloomy? By now Eiji was annoyed. What happened to the cute shy little girl they knew and loved?! Maybe a match would bring her back! "Wanna play some tennis Sakuno-Chan?" She was shocked. First they ignore her, now wanting to play tennis?! What if she went too far!? **

**Not wanting to annoy or worry her senpais she accepted and went back to the kitchen. This time Eiji followed her, hoping to help with food or whatever. When they got to the Kitchen it was the same as the rest of the house. Pristine. The opened the fridge to only see a bottle of water and… nothing else. She wasn't kidding about having nothing else. There was a lone box of tea on the counter. There was a small bag of cat food in the corner of the room and Eiji was even more surprised. How did this house stay so clean and pristine with a pet? He went back into the living room and told the others that all she had in her fridge was a bottle of water. The others looked plain worried and when Sakuno came back in she was carrying the cat food and heard a faint tap, tap, tap.**

** She quickly muttered, "Shitsurei shimasu.." and rushed past them and down the hall. The got to the door to the backyard and ran outside. She went around to the side of her house where 4 stray cats sat. She filled up the bowl of food for them and returned to the regulars. "So, where do you want to have that match?" She muttered out. Eiji smiled thinking that she was back to normal replied, "How about at Seigaku?" His smile turned to a frown when the girl quickly declined and said, "There's a street court nearby… We can go to it." She walked quickly away. Now the boys were concerned.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

The Regulars waited as Sakuno got her Tennis supplies. When she came back out they were surprised to see her with a bright aqua and navy sports tennis bag. She just walked up to them and asked Eiji, "You have a Racquet with you?" The boy shrugged and looked around in his backpack. As he was starting to dig around she interrupted him saying, "Never mind you can borrow one of mine." She than walked down the hall and into a garage area. In the corner there was a box full of Racquets. "Take your pick." The boys ran in and were surprised to see around 15 racquets. Eiji grabbed a red one and they headed out.

When they got to the Courts Sakuno had recommended Momo and Kaidoh realised this was were the girl they found was. Momo mentioned it and no one but Fuji noticed that Sakuno flinched before walking briskly across the areato the courts. Eiji had by this time decided to go easy on her. They decided that Sakuno would serve and expected nothing too great form her service game. Unfortunately for Eiji he was taken by surprise as Sakuno deliverd a powerful shot that he only barely managed to reach because he was caught off-gaurd. He stared surprised at the teenager. She returned the ball with ease and Eiji ran to the other sideof the court. Was she challenging him to a Stanima battle?! So be it then. It took 45 minutes before the first point was scored. 15-LOVE sakuno called out with no trace of exhastion.

3 hours later...

It was finally match-point. As Eiji prepared imself to take the winning shot Sakuno hit the ball with a twist in her wrist and just before Eiji reached it, it dropped to the ground. "Lotus Drop..." Momo and Kawamara mumbled. A high tecnique return that was national level. When she saw the regular's shocked faces she knew she had gone too far. "Gomen" she mumbled before running over to her bag to hastily pack. Recoginzing that she was going to run away they ran over trying to reassure her that they were only impressed by her improvement. She glanced at the ground before standing up. Oishi grabbed her right arm and she gasped in pain. He quickly sat her down and pulled back her sleve. There was a large white bandage covering her shoulder and upper arm. He examined the grip tape to see that it was not grip tape but bandages. He let out a gasp of shock. She had beaten Eiji when injured!? the other regulars gathered around and were also surprised.

"Ryazaki-Senpai!" a younger girl called out capturing their attention. This girl looked to be around 13 or 14 years old and had strawberry colered like hair pulled up into a such a long ponytail that it reached her thighs. What was even more suprrisnig was that she wore the girl's regulars uniform. "Hai, Sakura? What's wrong? I'm pretty sure that we don't meet until tommorow." Sakuno asked tilting her head to te left, signaling that they did not know of her positon as the tennis Team's**_-Bzzt So sorry for this intruption ut we are expirencing some minor technical difficulties... Please enjoy this Playteack of ElevatorJazz 1 *Plays Jazz over intercomm* Thank you for your patince as we fix this cliffhanger. _**


	3. Chapter 3

The girl's eyes widened realizing what Sakuno was implying. She glanced at the Regulars and said, "Sakuno-senpai, are these the ones you were talking about? I thought they moved away." Sakuno nodded and whispered, "Me too." With that Sakuno stood up among the flustered Ex-Regulars and says to Sakura, "It's getting close to 3'oclock now... We should head to work. Sakuno turned away sharply and walked toward the park exit. Sakura quickly apologized to them saying, "Sorry my Cap-"She cut herself off by slapping a hand over her mouth and dashing after her senpai.

The Ex-Regulars had an hobby not only for tennis, but also spying on people. They silently followed Sakuno to a... Diner? When she entered she went around back. The regulars just sat across the place on a bench and watched through the window. Sakura came out soon as a waiter along with a girl sporting Dark Blue ringlets put up into pigtails. The girl looked rather bored as she went to take an order.

A third girl who looked slightly younger came out wearing the same waitress uniform. She had a seafoam bob-cut and large light brown glasses. She jumped as she was tapped on the shoulder by an older boy with short red hair and thin brown unibrow. Horio. He whispered something in the girl's ear and she nodded she dashed to the back and came out with a large plate of sandwiches. She carried them over to a table who had the freshman trio and Tomoko at it. Well now they were third years. Tomoko was shorter and had filled out a bit. Her hair had grown longer too. She had it up in a side bun and was talking with Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo about something inaudible. After about 3 hours everyone had gone and the diner closed.

Sakuno finally came from the back wearing an apron which she hung on a hook near the kitchen door. She was the last one out and locked the door. She walked back towards the park they had been at previously. The Regulars got up and stretched before sneaking after the teenager.

She sat down the tennis bag she was carrying and got out a ball and headed over to the wall nearby. (**A/N: The wall is one of those Public washroom things."**) She started to hit the ball on the wall over and over and got to 40 times before she hissed in pain at her shoulder, grasping it, therefore missing the ball. "Pathetic..." She mumbled. The regulars heard it because as they were the only other ones in the park. She shouldn't be pushing herself when her shoulder is injured! Before they could get up to stop her a voice rang out in the darkness. "Captain? What are you doing here?! You shouldn't be overexerting yourself! Not after you collapsed here on Saturday." A girl who looked to be the same age as Sakuno ran up to help her. This one had cinnamon colored hair and Deep Dark brown eyes. Her hair was up in a bun with a ponytail coming from that. "Shhh, You know I'm supposed to be anonymous!" Sakuno sushs the girl, "Zoella-Chan be more careful!" the girls got up and walked back to Sakuno's House.

When they got there they were very surprised to see the ex-regulars waiting at the front door. Sakuno bade a goodbye to the girl and waited until she was around the block before turning back around, "Wait where are you going?!" Momo asked. She raised a brow at him and answered monotonously, "This happens often. She sends me back home and I go back to the park to train." Eiji forgetting her hand injuries grabs one of them and says, "Oh no no no! You should rest!" and drags her inside. She winces as he almost throws her down on the couch so that she will stay.

Momo goes and locks the door but before he can lock the back door, Sakuno pulls him away from it. "Wait let me get something." Fuji and Inui follow her outside and around the corner as she scoops up a cat they hadn't noticed earlier. It's a teenage cat and is a lilac color with Black speckles. She brings the Pet inside and sets him down. "This is Liila, my pet cat..." She flopped down on her brand new looking couch and says, "Since you creeps won't let me out of my own home, I guess I'll go to bed early." Oishi quickly replies, "What's wrong Sakuno? We're here to help."

The girl just sighed and started to undo her bun, releasing ridiculously long locks of hair out. "I know too long. I've been told. Do you want the short story or the short story." she retorted while rolling her eyes. "All my friends basically moved away or lost interest in me, I'm taking more interest in tennis and I have a job. A few days ago I collapsed from 'overworking myself' and got a few injuries." She glances around the room before continuing saying, "Since you can't seem to get the placement straight, I have injured my right hand and arm, Left leg and left hand, hips and bruised the back of my head."

"Why did you play me even though you were injured?" Eiji asked. He was still surprised that she had beat him at all. She shrugged and said softly, "I've played through worse conditions." She had a look of annoyance in her eyes. "Even _then _**they **still called me weak." Her momentary anger stopped and she just mumbled again, "Pathetic..."

"Are you never here or something?" Momo asked. The house only had the necessary furniture and nothing further. Heck, even then the furniture looked brand new and was stiff! "Not often. I just came back today so that I could feed Liila and her friends. Hence the cat food."

"If so where do you stay?" Inui asked.

"Usually I take up night classes and stay up all night then attend school again, or train all night and occasionally collapse form exhaustion." Everyone was horrified by this. Even they, the tennis freaks would never do that. "Why is it your concern anyways. I was told you thought I was merely a distraction." They were even more astounded. "Who told you that!?" they yelled in surprise.

Her eyes widened and Sakuno stood up her hair reaching the floor. She started to walk in the direction of the front door. Kawamura ran and grabbed her gently and said, "Who told you that you were a distraction?" She turned back to them and said, "Did you ever realize the reason that I stopped visiting the courts?" Their eyes widened (Minus Fuji, who you know...) as they recalled that one day she just stopped visiting and shook their heads.

"It was because just about every person on the team said that I should bugger off and stop distracting you. That you wasted too much time training me for nothing. That I was too Pathetic to even watch you on the courts." She shook with anger. "That's why I stopped coming." She wrenched herself from Kawamura's grip and ran to the door. She took a bobby pin out and picked the lock swiftly and turned only her head towards them saying, "Funny how things work out sometimes." and turned to leave. But as soon as she got down her pathway every player of the team had surrounded her. "Now, now... I think it's about time you rest, Sakuno..." Oishi whispered. "Now just come back with us to our apartment and sleep."

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**(A/N): The Ex-Regulars only have BROTHERLY feelings for Sakuno. Sorry to anyone who hoped otherwise. I'm gonna crank out the next chapter soon. Hope u review and Follow. The Show has only begun.**


	4. Chapter 4

The Regulars eventually got her down to the apartment that Fuji, Oishi, Eiji, and Momo shared. Tezuka, Kaidoh and Kawamaru lived alone. Kawamaru split off from them when they passed his restaurant. "Really I'm FINE!" Sakuno protested when they pushed her inside the Apartment's doors. The walls where a light orange color and plastered with Photos that Fuji took of the team and different landscapes. There were several dark brown couches and a large television. Momo dragged Sakuno into the light green guestroom and pushed her in. As soon as she was inside the room they locked the door. "Sorry but you NEED rest! Seriously, how long is it gonna take for you to realize that?" he replied and only silence returned to him. He returned to the living room and told the other three that Sakuno was in the guest room. They sighed with relief and flopped onto the sofas. "Why is she so strung up on working?" Oishi asked. Eiji stood up and announced, "I'm gonna get her some food." Eiji jogged over to the kitchen and grabbed a bento that he had made for his lunch tomorrow. the walked quietly to the guest room and knocked nervously. No reply was heard. He unlocked the door and opened it slowly. "Sakuno I brought you some food…" The girl in question was nowhere in sight! "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!" He yelled out of frustration. The rest of the teens ran to the room and groaned. In Sakuno's place was a white notecard. Fuji swiftly picked it up and read it out loud.

_Dear Senpai-Tachi,_

_I am sorry that you can not care for me as you wish. But I must be on time for my match tomorrow and can not default. I will not give up my place easily. I am not training but resting at a friends dorm. I have to get up early for the Match. Do NOT come looking for me. I assure you that I will be fine. I do not wish to distract you further. I am not sure WHY you wish to care for me now. I am nothing special. Not in comparison to anyone on the boy's team. Please do not come looking for me at Seigaku tomorrow. I wish to not forfeit._

_Goodbye_

_-Ryuzaki Sakuno_

When Fuji had finished reading the note everybody groaned. They realised that Sakuno might have a point of going to a friend's house… Wait a moment **Dorm**?

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_**Sorry everyone. I'm on a Harry Potter Streak and can't get any new Ideas. Sakuno **_**is_ The girl's tennis team Captain... But they don't know that, Do they?_**

**_To answer _**AnimeMango**_'s question: Maybe. I have a feeling Ryoma MIGHT come back from his 'journey' and be shocked by Sakuno. That might be fun heehee!_**

**_A bit of Backstory. _**

**_After The tennis season ended the regulars saw that Sakuno had Potential. She just needed refining which is NOT what Ryoma did. They trained her for about a month and the team grew jealous so they drove Sakuno to Believing that the Regulars where distracted by her and that they didn't care for her. _**


End file.
